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The flavour of Kolkata

Kolkata Maidan- The lungs of the city. Lovingly shot by Arindam Patra.

Friday, December 23, 2016

The Christmas treats from The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata

The
goodiebox from the cake shop of The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata that arrived in
my office was red, so was the man – dressed in a red t-shirt and cap. It felt
for a moment that Santa had taken a disguise and appeared ahead of schedule.

The
name ‘Great Eastern Hotel cake shop’ takes me back to my childhood. My father’s
office was across the road, opposite the hotel’s erstwhile entrance on Old
Court House Street. The aroma wafting out of the 19th century bakery
(founded by English baker David Wilson) of The Great Eastern Hotel (The
previous name) was irresistible and he was among many to queue up at the cake
shop for their tempting Christmas cakes. Those wonderful cakes make one of the
sweetest memories from that age of mine.

Coming
back to the goodiebox. It had a card with handwritten Christmas wish from the
General Manager of the hotel. I found a one pound Christmas fruit cake, a pack
of Christmas cookies, a vanilla muffin, an orange muffin and a loaf of Masala Bread inside.

Inside of the Christmas goodiebox

The
vanilla muffin tasted good. It had a mild vanilla flavour, had nuts and was not
intensely sweet which is how I like my cakes.

The Masala Bread topped with cumin seeds had a mild spicy flavour which was nice. To
enjoy a slice of it better, toast it lightly and give it a pat of butter.

The Masala Bread

The
Christmas cake was also delicately sweet and good in taste. The taste is distinctly different from other cakes as they use clarified butter instead of butter. It is not loaded
with dry fruits and candied orange peel, so you can have it any time of the
year as a tea cake.

The Christmas cake

I
liked the Christmas cookies a lot. I crave for good cookies and the hard, crunchy,
sticky, coconutty cookies were delicious. They had dried plums for the added
goodness and again, were not intensely sweet. The children should love it.

The Christmas cookies

If you wish to buy your Christmas cake from the hotel's cake shop, it's on Waterloo Street. They've opened well-decorated extended counters outside to cater to the long queue, so once you reach near the hotel at the end of the street, you shall not need further direction. The counters are opening around 9 o' clock. They also have an outlet of the cake shop in New Market where you may visit if you want to avoid a long queue. But try not to go there late afternoon as you may end up being too early for the next day.

My
heartiest thanks toThe Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata for the gesture! Wish
it a great Christmas season!

Wish you a Merry Christmas too! Soak in the chilly weather with good food.